Architectural Ironwork

Created on Sunday, 01 July 2007 11:16

Written by Admin

Book Description

This book showcases a vast array of ironwork commissioned for new commercial and residential building projects. Traditional styles in modern settings and designs that reach for new visual impact help to redefine ironworks status in our current society. There are over 375 spectacular examples from more than 100 of todays top blacksmiths, supplemented with historical works from 15 countries, some derived from old French and English ironwork. These include doors and hardware, staircases and railings, and gates and fences. This book will inspire architects, builders, homeowners, and artist-blacksmiths with the wealth of beautiful ideas it contains.

Excerpts from book

Michael P. Dillon. Traditional French style rail. This iron is painted a dull black with gold leaf accents, and has a natural hand rubbed steel cap. Stair Rail is 63' long with an additional 55' continuous rail and two 4' balconies. Photos, Max Birnkammer.

Michael Dillon's French style staircase uses S curves in reverse positions to create an inverted heart shape with extra scrollwork within each large shape. The gold acanthus leaves are a French motif ut the staircase also has a "slight lean toward Gothic," says Dillon. After the drawings were accepted, a wood template was made by a master stair building to aid the stone carver in his construction of the limestone curb and layout of the treads. Dillon explains, "I was able to use this template to bend my top and bottom rails. These frames were built on site and brought back to the shop to fill in the design. Some areas of the design are floating attached by 3/4" balls." The newel panel consists of eleven bars arranged in the vertical plane and a decorative "D" for the name of the house. Two four-foot balconies and seven panels are mechanically fastened together to complete the rail. The finish is painted dull black with gold leaf accents and the steel cap is natural hand rubbed. The project took six months and over 500 hours to complete.